100 Favorite Dishes, No. 94: Chicken Kebab at Afrah

To prepare for this fall's Best of Dallas® 2014 issue, we're counting down (in no particular order) our 100 Favorite Dishes. If there's a dish you think we need to try, leave it in the comments, or email me.

To the untrained eye, the kebab served at Afrah can appear burnt at times. This is not so. Instead, consider the kebab before you to be cooked aggressively, and with great passion.

Too often kebabs sit over timid heat. They almost steam more than they grill, and they finish with no color and no personality. They taste that way, too.

But the kebab at Afrah is anything but bland. It arrives looking like it has endured an epic battle and emerged with only a shred of life remaining. Small onions are charred and completely black, while each cube of chicken bears the blisters and scars from intense heat.

You'd expect the whole thing to taste like charcoal and chicken jerky, but instead it tastes like a celebration of poultry. The meat is still juicy, and it soaks up flavor from a lengthy marinade to its core. The charing adds smoke and earthy flavors. Every time you fire up your own grill, this is exactly what you set out to accomplish but seldom do.